Daily Reading Reflection for 8/31/10

Reflection on Today’s Daily Readings by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Today’s Readings


Scripture. Aug.31. Lectionary # 432. I Cor.2:10-16. Psalm
145:8-9,10-11.12-13, 13-14. Luke 4:31-37:

Paul is so filled with the Holy Spirit that his words are totally filled
with power and grace for those who listen to them.  One of the Psalms gives
us the phrase found in a traditional prayer to the Holy Spirit: "Send forth
your Spirit, and they shall be created, and thou shalt renew the face of
the earth."  We are encouraged by the Scriptures to pray before pondering
them and reading or proclaiming them.  The Holy Spirit, the third Person of
Blessed Trinity is this power of God manifested in the scriptural passages
read in the Church.  Yesterday, we heard and saw how Jesus is filled with
the Spirit and power of God as he begins his inaugural proclamation of the
Good News through the prophet Isaiah.  He then interprets the passage for
us and shows us how it is to be fulfilled. This is definitely the work of
the Spirit in Jesus.

Paul assures us that the Holy Spirit scutinizes all of our being, our
questioning, our reasoning. He knows the Spirit reveals the deep things of
God--the Holy Mysteries of God working in our lives through the Testaments,
through others, and directly through our cooperation of will, heart, and
mind.  The Holy Spirit gives us gifts freely and helps us to recognize
them. They are the daily graces that come from being united with God and
God's Son through the Spirit.  We are all being taught how to interpret the
wisdom of God found in the scriptures.  We are encouraged by Paul to be men
and women who live, move, and have our being through the Spirit. Paul asks
us rhetorically, "Who has known the mind of the Lord?"  And he answers his
question through his own example when he tells us, "Indeed we have the mind
of Christ." (see Phil.2:1-4). Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the
faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your divine love. Amen.